LIFEBOAT MAGAZINE ARCHIVE

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Atbara

CROMER AND PALLING, NORFOLK.—At about 4.30 P.M. on the llth February the Cromer Life-boat, Louisa Hearticell, and the Palling No. 2 Life-boat, Hearts of Oak, went off to the Haisbro' Sands in response to a message from the light vessel that a steamer was ashore. The sea was rather choppy and the weather foggy, with a fresh W.N.W. breeze.

Both boats were promptly launched, and the Cromer boat reached the vessel about 7 P.M., the Palling boat arriving about an hour later. The vessel proved to be the steamer Atbara, of London, bound from the Tyne to Piraeus, with a cargo of coal. The Life-boats lay alongside until midnight, when it was considered advisable to rescue the crew. There were twenty-four men on board, and they were equally divided between the two Life-boats, which at the request of the master remained in the vicinity of the vessel until daylight, in case it should be possible to get her off the sand. At about 7 o'clock in the morn- ing it was seen that the steamer was a total wreck; the Life-boats therefore left for home, arriving in a blinding snowstorm. This was an excellent and very useful service, and the Life-boatmen had a very trying time, being exposed to the extreme cold for upwards of sixteen hours..